Pass rate
74.9%
Below average — 0.9 pts ahead of the 74.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 15,775 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £35–£93
2009 Mercedes-Benz Vito MOT pass rate
- 2009
- 2 trims combined
- typical 157,760 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
24.4% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2025 100.0% pass
- Avoid 2003 64.9% pass
Across the 26 years on record, a spread of 35.1 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 67.9%
- Typical mileage
- 158k mi
The 2009 Mercedes-Benz Vito MOT pass rate is 74.9% of its MOT tests — about what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 24.4% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Mercedes-Benz Vito does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Fewer problems with tyres
Tyres are 11.8% of this car’s recorded faults, against 19.8% nationally — the mirror image of the usual story on a car of this age.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 35% of this model’s typical repairs come in under £30 in parts — the failures here tend to be the kind that need a garage rather than a bulb.
Written from this page's own figures: fault shares against the national composition, the like-for-like pass rate, and the priced repair list. How these are worked out
Watching a Mercedes-Benz Vito? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Mercedes-Benz Vito first registered in 2009 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2009 Mercedes-Benz Vito compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 74.0%, so this figure is 0.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 67.9%. The median 2009 Mercedes-Benz Vito in this dataset had covered 157,760 mi.
100% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Diesel, which passed 74.9% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 75.1% of the time, April–September 74.5%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 7.13% of tests.
- 15,775 recorded tests behind this page.
- 74.9% overall pass rate, 67.9% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Mercedes-Benz Vito, the average is 78.5% — best year 2025 (100.0%), worst 2003 (64.9%).
Figures count every completed test on this vehicle-year in the dataset, including retests. See methodology for the exact definition.
This page's data
- Tests analysed
- 15,775
- Typical mileage (median)
- 157,760 mi
- Make and model
- Mercedes-Benz Vito
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Windscreen
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Vito MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 66% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (100% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Vito
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 2,694 | 77.1% |
| North West | 2,442 | 75.6% |
| South West | 2,257 | 69.8% |
| West Midlands | 1,868 | 78.3% |
| East of England | 1,462 | 76.8% |
| Yorkshire | 1,382 | 74.0% |
| East Midlands | 1,134 | 75.9% |
| Scotland | 971 | 68.6% |
| Wales | 821 | 72.0% |
| North East | 424 | 73.3% |
| London | 320 | 85.3% |
Regions come from the postcode area recorded at the test station. Areas on region borders are assigned to the region with the majority of their population.
What fails a 2009 Vito
Everything a tester recorded on this vehicle, grouped into the inspection sections that produced it. The notch on each bar is the national share, so you can see at a glance whether this car is unusual or just ordinary.
A test can record several items, so these percentages do not add up to 100%. The exact strings, with prices, are in the full DVSA record at the bottom of this page.
Before your test
Three checks worth doing on a 2009 Vito
These are not generic tips — they are the faults recorded most often on this exact model, rewritten as things you can check yourself. All three take about ten minutes and cost nothing.
-
Check the windscreen 7.1% of tests
“windscreen damaged”
Check the driver’s side of the screen within the swept area for chips and cracks; anything larger than 10mm in the driver’s central view is a fail. Most chips can be resin-repaired for far less than a new screen.
-
Check the lights 6.4% of tests
“registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources”
Switch everything on and walk round the car: both headlamps on dip and main, every indicator, both brake lights, reverse, fog and the two number-plate lamps. A bulb is a few pounds and a five-minute job.
-
Check the suspension joints 3.6% of tests
“ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated”
With the car parked on level ground, rock the top of each front wheel in and out while someone watches the suspension arm. Clunks, or rubber boots split and greasy, are what testers record here.
Shares are the proportion of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item, so they overlap: one test can record several.
What it costs to get a 2009 Vito through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £35–£93 — and 35% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £35–£93
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 35%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 15,775 MOT tests on this vehicle. They exclude diagnostics, retest fees and garage labour where the part is a DIY fit, and they are not figures from the DVSA dataset. Older and higher-mileage examples cost more than the average. How these estimates are built → · All MOT repair costs → · Cheapest cars to put through a test →
Every year of the Vito, side by side
26 model years on record, from 2000 to 2025. Across them the pass rate runs from 64.9% to 100.0% — a spread of 35.1 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 67.4% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2001 67.6% component mounting prescribed…
- 2002 68.1% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2003 64.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 69.1% component mounting prescribed…
- 2005 70.2% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2006 71.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 72.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2008 73.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2009 74.9%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 75.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2011 75.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2012 76.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2013 77.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2014 78.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 79.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 79.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 82.3% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2018 82.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 83.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 83.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2021 85.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2022 89.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2023 93.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2024 92.8% brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
- 2025 100.0% no single leading item
Colour is the pass rate on a fixed scale, so a block means the same thing on any model. Each year links to its own page with the full fault breakdown.
Compare the 2009 Mercedes-Benz Vito with another year
The raw pass rate mostly measures age. The year comparison adds the like-for-like figure, the mileage bands and the repair bill.
Other 2009 cars with a similar record
- Ford Kuga 74.9%
- Volkswagen Scirocco 74.9%
- SEAT Leon 75.0%
- MINI Mini 74.8%
- Volkswagen Tiguan 75.1%
- Skoda Yeti 75.1%
Closest pass rates among 2009 cars with at least 2,000 tests, so a small sample cannot flatter itself into the list. See the full rankings: best and worst MOT pass rates.
The full DVSA record for the 2009 Mercedes-Benz Vito 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 10 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 43,202 individual items recorded on this vehicle, and the same share across all cars nationally. A single test can record several items, so a row is not a percentage of tests.
| Category | Items | This car | Nationally | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brakes | 10,744 | 24.40% | 20.89% | +3.51 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 7,169 | 16.30% | 12.21% | +4.09 |
| Suspension | 6,978 | 15.80% | 20.98% | −5.18 |
| Tyres | 5,207 | 11.80% | 19.76% | −7.96 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 3,785 | 8.60% | 5.52% | +3.08 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 3,415 | 7.80% | 5.57% | +2.23 |
| Visibility | 2,719 | 6.20% | 4.97% | +1.23 |
| Non-component advisories | 1,370 | 3.10% | 4.18% | −1.08 |
| Steering | 1,030 | 2.30% | 2.57% | −0.27 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 785 | 1.80% | 1.76% | +0.04 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 7.1% | £80–200 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 6.4% | £5–20 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 4.3% | £5–25 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 4.1% | £45–110 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 3.6% | £18–45 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.0% | £5–25 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 2.9% | £25–65 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.7% | £18–45 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 2.5% | £80–250 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 2.4% | £60–150 |
Severity is as recorded: Major and Dangerous fail the test outright; Minor and Advisory do not. Costs are estimates from typical UK parts prices — see how they are built.
What testers noted without failing the car
Advisories are the early warnings — the same parts a year or two before they fail. Reading them is how you tell a car that has been maintained from one that has been patched.
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 19.7% | £45–95 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 17.6% | £80–180 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 13.2% | £200–700 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 10.8% | £45–110 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Advisory | 6.0% | £60–150 |
| Non-component advisories Play in steering rack inner joint(s) Non-component advisories | Advisory | 5.0% | £120–300 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 42 | 97.6% | 20,868 mi |
| 30-60k | 270 | 82.2% | 47,979 mi |
| 60-90k | 911 | 78.3% | 77,376 mi |
| 90-120k | 2,315 | 75.6% | 106,293 mi |
| 120k+ | 11,449 | 74.3% | 187,707 mi |
Source: 15,775 recorded tests on this vehicle-year. Every row above is recomputed from the same DVSA extract as the rest of the page — see the methodology.
2009 Vito MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2009 Mercedes-Benz Vito?
74.9% of the 15,775 2009 Mercedes-Benz Vito tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 74.0% for cars first used in 2009. First-attempt pass rate: 67.9%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2009 Mercedes-Benz Vito?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (7.13%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (6.42%), headlamp lens slightly defective (4.30%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2009 Mercedes-Benz Vito MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 97.6% of the time, falling to 74.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2009 Mercedes-Benz Vito in this dataset had covered 157,760 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2009 Mercedes-Benz Vito?
Diesel: 74.9% pass rate across 15,736 tests. Petrol: 74.4% pass rate across 39 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2009 Mercedes-Benz Vito MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 75.1% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 74.5%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.